A page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website was changed to include a false claim about autism and vaccines. Multiple CDC officials familiar with the situation said the change was made by political appointees inside the Department of Health and Human Services without input from relevant agency staffers.
The page about vaccines and autism formerly said that "no links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and Autism spectrum disorder." The website has now been changed to say, "'Vaccines do not cause autism' is not an evidence-based claim" — a statement the Autism Science Foundation calls "misinformation" that "actually contradicts the best available science." The CDC page also falsely claims that studies supporting a link between vaccines and autism have "been ignored by health authorities."
Previously, changes have only occurred in consultation with subject matter experts at the agency's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and its National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The CDC sources told CBS News political appointees at HHS devised the change and instructed an employee inside the office of acting CDC Director Jim O'Neil to make it.
Autism is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. It presents with a wide range of symptoms that can include delays in language, learning, and social or emotional skills. The National Institutes of Health has committed hundreds of millions of...
A page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website was changed to include a false claim about autism and vaccines. Multiple CDC officials familiar with the situation said the change...